CRM system for enhanced retention of customers

ABSTRACT

Customer relationship management (CRM) system for enhanced retention of customers of a business entity. In one embodiment, a historical data corresponding to a customer is maintained in the CRM system, with the historical data including information on prior interactions between the customer and the business entity. On receiving a call from the customer, the historical data is identified and an attrition risk (indicating the probability of retaining the customer) is computed based on the identified data. Different offers based on the computed attrition risk are then determined and communicated to the customer during the call.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to and claims priority from the U.S.provisional patent application entitled, “CRM System For EnhancedRetention Of Customers”, application Ser. No. 61/059,277, filed on 6Jun. 2008, naming as inventor Sanjay Sharma as in the subject patentapplication, and is incorporated in its entirety herewith.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to customer relationship management (CRM)and more specifically to a CRM system for enhanced retention ofcustomers.

2. Related Art

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system enables a businessentity (such as a company) to manage the relationships with itscustomers while providing various functions such as marketing campaigns,enquiries, sales, technical support, complaints handling, billing, etc.

CRM system often track and analyze the customer specific information(generated while providing the various functions) to enable the businessentity to retain (keep) the customers by providing improved services,identifying sales opportunities, executing appropriate marketingcampaigns, maintaining proper customer relationships, etc.

It is often desirable that the CRM system facilitate enhanced retentionof customers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example embodiments of the present invention are described withreference to the accompanying drawings briefly described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment (computingsystem) in which several aspects of the present invention can beimplemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which an incomingtelephone call is handled by a contact center agent in one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the manner in which a CRM systemfacilitates enhanced retention of customers according to an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts the manner in which a call from a customer having a lowattrition risk is handled in one embodiment.

FIG. 5 depicts the manner in which a call from a customer having a highattrition risk is handled in one embodiment.

FIG. 6A depicts a portion of rules data used in computing a value forattrition risk in one embodiment.

FIG. 6B depicts a user interface for specifying eligibility of offers inan embodiment.

FIG. 6C depicts a user interface for specifying the manner of scoringeligible offers in an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the details of a digitalprocessing system in which several aspects of the present invention areoperative by execution of appropriate software instructions.

In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical,functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawingin which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s)in the corresponding reference number.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

1. Overview

An aspect of the present invention provides a customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) system which facilitates enhanced retention ofcustomers for a business entity. In one embodiment, a historical datacorresponding to a customer is maintained in the CRM system (typically,in a data warehouse), with the historical data including information onthe past interactions between the customer and the business entity.

On receiving a call from a customer, the historical data (for thatcustomer) is identified and an attrition risk of the customer iscomputed based on the historical data. The attrition risk indicates theprobability of retaining the customer, with a low value indicating ahigh probability of retention and vice versa. Different offers based onthe computed attrition risk are then determined and communicated to thecustomer during the call.

In one embodiment, an input data is also received from the customerindicating a reason for the call, wherein the attrition risk is computedbased on the historical data (indicating the past interactions of thecustomer stored in the data warehouse) and the indicated reason.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the (computed)value of the attrition risk is compared with a threshold value and ifthe computed value is greater than the threshold value, retention offersdirected to increasing the probability of retaining the customer areincluded in the determined set of offers. Otherwise (i.e., whenattrition risk is low), cross-sell offers directed to sell servicesdesirable to the customer are included in the determined set.

In one scenario where an agent answers the call to serve the customer,the determined set of offers is first informed to the agent during thecall. The agent then manually/orally informs the customer of theretention offers if the computed value of the attrition risk is greaterthan said threshold value (that is, attrition risk is high). Otherwiseaudio clips representing some of the cross-sell offers are played to thecustomer during the call (typically during hold period). In oneembodiment, a choice data is received from the agent indicating thespecific cross-sell offers to be played to the customer during the call.

According to one more aspect of the present invention, a rules dataindicating the corresponding manner of computing of the attrition riskfor the customers is maintained. On receiving a call from a customer,rules (contained in the rules data) applicable to the customer aredetermined. The attrition risk of the customer is then computed based onthe historical/transaction data (of the customer) and the determinedapplicable rules in the rule data.

Several aspects of the invention are described below with reference toexamples for illustration. However one skilled in the relevant art willrecognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of thespecific details or with other methods, components, materials and soforth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, oroperations are not shown in detail to avoid obscuring the features ofthe invention. Furthermore the features/aspects described can bepracticed in various combinations, though only some of the combinationsare described herein for conciseness.

2. Example Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example environment (computingsystem) in which several aspects of the present invention can beimplemented. The example computing system represents a CRM system usedby a business entity to manage relationship with its customers. The CRMsystem is shown containing client systems 110A-110C, network 120, CRMserver 130, decision server 150, analytics server 160, transactiondatabase 180, and data warehouse 190.

Merely for illustration, only representative number/type of systems isshown in the Figure. Many environments often contain many more systems,both in number and type, depending on the purpose for which theenvironment is designed. Each block of FIG. 1 is described below infurther detail.

Network 120 provides connectivity between client systems 110A-110C, CRMserver 130, decision server 150 and analytics server 160. Network 120may be implemented using protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP) wellknown in the relevant arts. In general, in IP environments, an IP packetis used as a basic unit of transport, with the source address being setto the IP address assigned to the source system from which the packetoriginates and the destination address set to the IP address of thetarget system to which the packet is to be eventually delivered.

Each of transaction database 180 and data warehouse 190 represents anon-volatile storage facilitating storage and retrieval of a collectionof data by business/enterprise applications executing in one of CRMserver 130 and analytics server 160.

Transaction database 180 maintains transaction data related to businesstransactions (for example, current marketing deals, customer callinformation, etc) in real time. Transaction database 180 generallyenables the addition, modification, and deletion of the stored data bydifferent users simultaneously. In contrast, data warehouse 190 storeshistorical data including information on the past interactions betweencustomers and the business entity. Data warehouse 190 generally containsdata extracted from different external data sources (such as transactiondatabase 180) at pre-defined intervals, for example, at end of day,month, etc.

In one embodiment, each of transaction database 180 and data warehouse190 is implemented using relational database technologies and thereforeprovides storage and retrieval of data using structured queries such asSQL (Structured Query Language). SQL refers to a special-purpose,generally non-procedural language (generally indicates what to retrievebased on conditions, in contrast to how to retrieve) that supports thedefinition, manipulation, and control of data in systems implementingrelational database technologies.

Each of CRM server 130, decision server 150, and analytics server 160represents a server system, such as a web/application server, executingbusiness/enterprise applications capable of performing tasks requestedfrom client systems 110A-110C. Each of the server systems may alsocontain other software programs such as operating system, devicedrivers, etc., (not shown) that provides a (common) run time environmentfacilitating the execution of multiple business/enterprise applications.

CRM server 130 executes enterprise applications (such asmarketing/billing/contact applications) that are designed to providecorresponding services to the end users using client systems 110A-110C.For example, a contact application may be designed to accept requestsfor performing specific tasks from end users handling calls fromcustomers of the business entity (and who are commonly referred to as“contact center agents” or just “agents”), to perform the requestedtasks and to send corresponding responses containing the results ofperformance of the requested tasks to the requesting client system. Theperformance of the requested tasks by the business applications maycause addition, modification and/or deletion of the transaction data(such as the customer marketing/billing/call information) stored intransaction database 180.

Analytics server 160 executes applications designed to analyze thecustomer relationship data (maintained in data warehouse 190 and maybetransaction database 180) to identify commonly occurring/repeatingpatterns in the business transactions. The identification of the commonpatterns enables the business entity to decide on policies that help inmanaging/retaining the customers. For example, analytics server 160 mayidentify that the number of customer calls increases during specificperiods, for example, during Christmas. Accordingly, the business entitymay decide to have more agents working to receive customer calls duringthose periods.

Decision server 150, provided according to various aspects of thepresent invention, executes applications designed to calculate theattrition risk of a customer based on the historical data of thecustomer (stored in data warehouse 190) and also the current transactiondata (stored in transaction database 180). Decision server 150 may alsodetermine the specific offers to be communicated to the customer duringa call, as described in detail below.

Each of client systems 110A-110C represents a system such as a personalcomputer, workstation, mobile station, etc., used by end users togenerate requests to business applications executing in one of CRMserver 130, decision server 150 and analytics server 160. The requestsmay be generated using appropriate user interfaces provided on a displayunit (not shown) associated with the client system. In general, a clientsystem requests an application for performing desired tasks and receivescorresponding responses containing the results of performance of therequested tasks from the application.

For example, marketing users/agents may use one of client systems110A-110C to send requests to a marketing application forretrieving/updating information related to the customers, such as themarketing offers of interest to different customers, the specific offersaccepted by each customer, etc. Similarly, client systems 110A-110C maybe used by users/administrators to retrieve/update the billinginformation related to each of the customers. Billing information mayinclude the current outstanding amount due from each of the customers,the corresponding credit rating, the manner of calculation of the bills,etc.

Further, client systems 110A-110C may be used by contact center agentsto access various customer related information related to differentcustomers, for example, while handling incoming product support orinformation inquiry calls from the customers. The customer relatedinformation (stored in transaction database 180 and/or data warehouse190) may also be accessed to enable outgoing calls for telemarketing,sending reminders, debt collection etc.

The incoming and outgoing calls may be in the form of telephone calls,letters, faxes, e-mails, web updates, etc. or in general any form ofcommunication as agreed between the customers and the business entity. Asample scenario illustrating the manner in which a contact center agenthandles an incoming telephone call is described below with examples.

3. Example Scenario

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which an incomingtelephone call is handled by a contact center agent in one embodiment.The block diagram is shown containing customer 210, CTI (computertelephony integration) system 230, agent 250 and contact center system270. Each block of FIG. 1 is described below in further detail.

Customer 210 represents a single individual or a group of individualswho have a business relationship with a business entity/organization, orin other words, individuals who receive and/or use and/or are directlyaffected by the products and services of the business entity. Customer210 may use/receive the products/services after making appropriatepayments to the business entity/organization.

Customer 210 may wish to contact the business entity to receive supportand/or make complaints about the products/services of the businessentity. Accordingly, customer 210 may place a call (using a telephone)to a pre-specified telephone number (provided by the business entity)for initiating the contact.

CTI system 230 receives various customer calls, and distributes thecalls among agents. CTI system 230 may also determine the identity ofthe customer in a pre-determined manner to simplify handling of thecalls. For example, the identity of customer 210 may be determined basedon the telephone number from which customer 210 is placing the telephonecall. Alternatively, CTI system 230 may require customer 210 to specifya unique identification number (provided previously) using the telephone(and receive it via path 213). CTI system 230 then forwards the identityof customer 210 to agent 250 (via path 235).

Contact center system 270 represents client systems 110A-110C usingwhich agent 250 may send requests to (and receive information from)various applications executing in one of CRM server 130, decision server150, and analytics server 160. In general, the agent uses one of theclient systems in the contact center system to interact with the variousserver systems (in particular, CRM server 130) while handling thecustomer calls.

Agent 250 represents an individual (working in a contact center) who istrained to handle incoming calls from various customers of the businessentity using CTI system 230 and uses contact center system 270thereafter to handle the call. Thus, agent 250 may be trained to knowthe various features/issues related to the different products/servicesoffered by the business entity. As such, agent 250 may be capable ofproviding support to the customers and also to handle various complaintsreceived corresponding to the different products/services.

Agent 250 may receive an indication of incoming calls from CTI system230 (via path 235). The indication may also indicate the identity ofcustomer 210. Agent 250 may then accept to handle the incoming telephonecall and be connected to customer 210 via path 215. Agent 250 may thenspeak to customer 210 to determine and/or address the reason of call(for example, information required, support required, complaint to bemade, etc.)

Agent 250 may also be provided convenient access to the informationrelated to customer 210 using contact center system 270 while handlingthe call. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the identity of customer 210may be sent (via path 257) in the form of corresponding requests to theserver systems (130/150/160) for determining the information (stored intransaction database 180 and/or data warehouse 190) related to customer210. The customer related information may then be displayed on a displayunit (not shown) associated with contact center system 270 (or thespecific client system being used). Agent 250 may then handle thetelephone call with customer 210 based on the customer relatedinformation provided by the server systems.

As noted in the Background section, it is generally desirable thatretention of customer 210 be enhanced. The manner in which enhancedretention of customers is facilitated according to various aspects ofthe present invention is described below with examples.

4. Providing Enhanced Retention of Customers

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the manner in which a CRM systemfacilitates enhanced retention of customers according to an aspect ofthe present invention. The flowchart is described with respect to FIGS.1 and 2 merely for illustration. However, various features can beimplemented in other environments also without departing from the scopeand spirit of various aspects of the present invention, as will beapparent to one skilled in the relevant arts by reading the disclosureprovided herein.

In addition, some of the steps may be performed in a different sequencethan that depicted below, as suited in the specific environment, as willbe apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts. Many of suchimplementations are contemplated to be covered by several aspects of thepresent invention. The flow chart begins in step 301, in which controlimmediately passes to step 310.

In step 310, a call is received from a customer. As described withrespect to FIG. 2, agent 250 may receive the call via CTI system 230.

In step 330, CRM server 130 identifies the historical informationrelated to the customer. The historical information includes informationrelated to the various prior interactions of the customer with thebusiness entity (including interactions with the computing systems andpersonnel of the business entity, e.g., email communications, moneywithdrawals/deposits). The customer related historical information maybe identified based on the identity of the customer (as determined byCTI system 230) as described above.

In step 340, an attrition risk is computed based on the historicalinformation and the reason for the call. The attrition risk indicatesthe probability of retaining the customer, with a lower attrition riskindicating a higher probability of retention and a higher attrition riskindicating a lower probability of retention.

The attrition risk may be computed by decision server 150 in response toreceiving a request from contact center system 270. The received requestmay indicate the identity of the customer for whom the attrition risk isto be computed. Alternatively, the request may contain the historicalinformation related to the customer based on which the attrition risk isto be computed.

It may be appreciated that the computation of the attrition risk may becomputed in any desirable/convenient manner. For example, the attritionrisk may be calculated based on the number of bill adjustment callsreceived from a customer. Bill adjustment calls may be received in ascenario that the bills sent to the customer was either inaccuratelycalculated or was calculated based on inaccurate information. As such, ahigh value of attrition risk may be attributed to (or associated with) acustomer making a higher number of bill adjustment calls, therebyindicating a low probability of retaining the customer.

The reason of call may also be used for computing the attrition risk.The reason of call may be provided by customer 210 or may be determinedby agent 250 based on the conversation with customer 210. In the abovescenario, if a customer indicates the reason of call to be billadjustment and if the customer already has made a large number of billadjustment calls, a higher value of attrition risk may be associatedwith the customer.

In step 350, decision server 150 determines whether the computed valueof the attrition risk is greater than a threshold value. The thresholdvalue may be pre-specified by a user/administrator (of the computingsystem) or determined based on historical information related toattritions (by analytics server 160). Control passes to step 370 if thecomputed value is greater than the threshold value (indicating a highvalue of attrition risk, and thereby a low probability of retention) andto step 380 otherwise.

In step 370, decision server 150 determines specific incentives forretaining the customer (in the scenario that there is a low probabilityof retention). An incentive is a direct benefit (e.g., upgrade to higheraccount status, granting more frequent flier miles, offering value addedservices) to the customer. The specific set of incentives for retainingthe customer may be determined based on the customer historicalinformation identified in step 330. Control then passes to step 390.

In step 380, decision server 150 determines the promotions that may bedesirable to the customer (in the scenario that the attrition risk islow indicating a high probability of retention). Promotions areadvertisements of either the business entity for which the call is beinghandled, or of any other organization (typically having a tie-up withthe business entity) as well. In general, an incentive is characterizedby higher benefit to the customer and higher cost to the business entitycompared to the corresponding parameters in relation to a promotion.

Furthermore, promotions are offered to a broader set of customerscompared to the incentives, which require a customer to have attained aparticular level of relationship (e.g., duration as a customer, level ofusage, volume of transactions, etc,) with the business entity. In oneembodiment described below, the promotions are provided in the form ofpre-defined cross-sell offers (i.e., other products/services of the samebusiness entity or any product/service of other business entities).Control then passes to step 390.

In step 390, the determined offers (incentives or promotions) arecommunicated to the user. The communication may entail sending thedetermined offers from decision server 150 to the requesting clientsystem (in contact center system 270), and then displaying thedetermined offers to the contact center agent (such as agent 250)handling the call. The contact center agent then orally conveys theoffers to the customer during the duration of the call.

Alternatively, the agent may be enabled to select a set of thedetermined offers using an appropriate user interface (e.g, using apointer device and/or keyboard on the same client system in contactcentre system). In response to the selection, audio clips correspondingto the selected set of offers may be played via the telephone to thecustomer (assuming that telephone system is integrated with contactcentre system 270, in a known way).

In another embodiment, the determined offers may be sent in the form ofan e-mail or SMS to the customer during the duration of the call. Byproviding the agent the ability to select the offers, suitable offersmay be accurately provided to each of the customers. The flow chart endsin step 399.

Thus, by providing incentives when attrition risk is high, decisionserver 150 enhances the probability of retaining the customers of thebusiness entity. Similarly, by having promotions for customers with lowattrition risk, more effective use of other customer calls is alsofacilitated. The description is continued illustrating the manner inwhich calls from customers with low attrition risk are handled in oneembodiment followed by the manner in which calls from customers withhigh attrition risk are handled.

5. Call from Customers with Low Attrition Risk

FIG. 4 depicts the manner in which calls from a customer having a lowattrition risk is handled in one embodiment. Display area 400 representsa portion of a user interface displayed to agent 250 in a scenario thatcustomer 210 is determined to have a low attrition risk.

Display area 400 (and display area 500) may be displayed on a displayunit (not shown) associated with contact center system 270. Display area400 (and 500) may be displayed by a CRM application (as indicated bytext 410 and 510) executing in CRM server 130 in response to receivingthe identity of a calling customer.

Text 415 indicates that the contact information related to customer 210is being displayed in display area 420. Accordingly, display area 420depicts the personal details of the customer such as the last name,first name, the job title, the address of the customer etc.

Display area 430 depicts the retention actions to be performed for thecustomer. In particular, clicking on button 435 (labeled “Menu”)provides/displays a list of actions that are available for selection byagent 250. Similarly, clicking on the other buttons labeled “Menu” indisplay area 400 provides/displays a corresponding list of actions toagent 250.

Status bar 440 graphically depicts the attrition risk associated withthe customer, with a longer colored bar indicating a higher attritionrisk. It may be observed that the colored portion of status bar 440 isshort indicating that the customer has a low attrition risk. Text fields444 and 448 indicate the retention incentives to be provided to thecustomer in a scenario that status bar 440 indicates a high attritionrisk for the customer. Text fields 444 and 448 are shown as empty sincethe attrition risk of the customer is low (as indicated by status bar440).

Table 450 depicts the desirable promotions (cross-sell offers) that areto be offered to customer 210 (since attrition risk is determined to below). Each of rows 451-453 depicts the details of a promotion/cross-selloffer that may be desirable to customer 210. In particular, row 451specifies a promotion with name “Auto Insurance” having a briefdescription associated with it. Row 451 also indicates the score of thepromotion to be 3 stars, the score indicating the desirability of thepromotion for customer 210.

The score may be calculated based on the historical data related to thecustomer, in particular the prior interactions between the customer andthe business entity. Thus, a larger number of stars (as shown in row453) indicates a higher desirability, thereby indicating a higherprobability of the promotion/cross-sell offer being of interest (andbeing accepted) by customer 210.

Agent 250 may then select one of the rows/promotions in table 450 andthen click on button 455 (labeled “Begin Script”) to indicate that theselected promotion is to be communicated to the customer. In response toclicking button 455, an audio clip corresponding to the selectedpromotion is played during the call with customer 210. Agent 250 mayfurther select other promotions and click on button 455 to play thecorresponding audio clips.

It may be appreciated that the audio clips corresponding to the selectedpromotions may be played during any idle (hold) time in the call, forexample, when the contact center agent is updating customer relatedinformation, and is not talking to the customer. Alternatively, theaudio clips may be played in response to receiving an indication ofinterest from the customer.

In response to listening to the audio clips, customer 210 may indicatehis/her interest in the offered promotions. Agent 250 may then updatethe interest of the customer by clicking/selecting one of buttons 460and 465 (respectively labeled “Interested” and “Not Interested”). Theindications of interest made by the customer may be maintained intransaction database 180 (and also data warehouse 190) and used indetermination of future promotions and/or incentives.

Table 470 depicts the details of the recent calls made by the customerto the business entity. In particular, row 471 specifies the detailssuch as the date/time, the type, and the reason of the current callbeing made by customer 210. It may be observed that the reason of thecurrent call is indicated to be “Change of address”.

Table 480 depicts the details of the various accounts(products/services) availed by the customer from the business entity. Assuch, table 480 indicates that there is only one product/service (row481) availed by customer 210. Row 481 specifies the details of theavailed product/service such as the name of the product “StandardChecking”, the current balance, the current status etc.

Table 490 depicts the details of the various service requests made bythe customer to the business entity. Each of the rows in table 490depicts the details of a corresponding service request such as therequest identifier, the date of request (“Open Date”), the currentstatus, and the type of request.

It may be noted that the display area 420 along with tables 470, 480,and 490 depict the historical and current information/data related tocustomer 210. Further, it may be observed that the historicalinformation indicates that customer 210 is a student (“Job Title”) whoavails only one service (row 481), does not have any pending servicerequests (as indicated by the “Closed” status in table 490) and who iscalling for changing his/her address (row 471). Accordingly, customer210 is determined to have a low attrition risk.

The description is continued illustrating the manner in which calls fromcustomers with high attrition risk are handled in one embodiment

6. Example Illustration Customers with High Attrition Risk

FIG. 5 depicts the manner in which a customer having a high attritionrisk is handled in one embodiment. Display area 500 represents a portionof a user interface displayed to agent 250 in a scenario that customer210 (different from the customer depicted in FIG. 4) is determined tohave a high attrition risk.

Display are 500 contains portions that are functionally similar tocorresponding portions of display are 400 and hence the descriptions ofsuch portions are not repeated for conciseness. In brief, display areas520 and 530 respectively depict the personal details of the customer andthe retention actions to be performed for the customer. Tables 550, 570,580, and 590 respectively depict the details of the desirablepromotions, the recent calls, the availed products/services, and theservice requests related to the customer.

It may be observed that the historical information indicates that thecustomer is a lawyer (“Job Title”) who avails different high-endservices (rows 581-583), has at least one pending service request (asindicated by the “Pending” status in table 590) and who is calling forinquiring about the fees (as indicated by “Fees Inquiry” in row 571).Accordingly, decision server 150 determines the customer to have a highattrition risk.

Since the customer has a high attrition risk, no promotions desirable tothe customer are determined and as such table 550 is shown to be empty.The high value of the attrition risk is indicated by a longer coloredbar in status bar 440, with the details of the incentive (retentionoffer) displayed in text fields 544 and 548.

Text field 544 indicates that the customer is to be provided theincentive/retention offer of upgrading his gold checking account (asindicated by row 581) to a platinum account. Text field 548 specifies amore detailed description of the incentive offer determinedcorresponding to the high-risk customer.

Agent 250 then orally communicates the incentive details to the customerduring the current call. Agent 250 may then use the list of actionsprovide by clicking menu 535 to indicate the choice made by thecustomer, that is, whether the customer is ready to accept the incentiveor not.

It should be noted that only some portions of the historical information(used in determining the attrition risk) are depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5.However, any information related to the prior interactions between thecustomer and the business entity may be used as the basis of calculatingthe attrition risk.

Further, it may be appreciated that depending on the attrition risk,incentives or promotions are offered to a calling customer. Theattrition risk can be computed using various approaches, depending onthe historical information maintained and the general understanding offactors seeming to affect attrition. In one embodiment, the attritionrisk of a customer is computed based on rules data as described belowwith examples.

7. Computing Attrition Risk

FIG. 6A depicts a portion of rules data (containing rules) used incomputing attrition risk for customers of a business entity in oneembodiment. The rules may be specified by a user/administrator (usingone of client systems 110A-110C) and may be maintained in transactiondatabase 180 or a local database (not shown) associated with decisionserver 150.

Though the rules data are shown encoded in extensible markup language(XML) according to one convention, other encoding/formats andconventions may be used for representing the rules data in alternativeembodiments. Further, a combination of tables defined in a database andXML data may also be used for maintaining the rules data. In general,the rules data may be maintained in any convenient format suitable forprogrammatic retrieval and application by decision server 150, as willbe apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts by reading thedisclosure provided herein.

Line 611 (“<?xml?>” tag) indicates that the following data (in lines612-643) is specified according to XML. Lines 612-643 (element“rulelist” between the start tag “<rulelist>” in line 612 and acorresponding end tag “</rulelist>” in line 643) specify a list of rulesbased on which attrition risk for customers is to be computed (as avalue between 0 and 100).

The value “all” for the attribute “customerType” for element “rulelist”in line 612 indicates that the list of rules are applicable for allcustomers of the business entity, while the value “65” for the attribute“threshold” indicates the threshold value to be used for comparing withthe computed value of attrition risk when determining the offers to beprovided to the customer. Thus, line 612 indicates to decision server150 to determine retention offers/incentives if the computed value ofthe attrition risk is greater than “65” and cross-sell offers/promotionsotherwise.

In general, each rule (element “rule”) includes one or more conditions(elements “conditions” and “condition”) that need to be satisfied by thehistorical/transactional information of a customer for the rule to beapplicable for the customer. Each condition specifies an attribute ofthe customer to be compared, a comparison/relational operator and acomparison value (the values of the respective attributes “attribute”,“operator” and “operand”). Further multiple conditions may be combinedusing a logical operators such as “and”, “or”, etc. as shown in lines614 and 633.

Each rule also specifies the details of one or more actions (elements“actions” and “action”) that are to be performed if the rule isdetermined to be applicable to the customer (that is, when all theconditions are determined to be satisfied). The actions specify themanner in which attrition risk is to be calculated. In particular, eachaction specifies the type of action to be performed in terms of whetherthe action increments or decrements the attrition risk (value ofattribute “type”) and an expression (including attributes of thecustomer) which on evaluation results in a value by which the attritionrisk is to be incremented/decremented (value of attribute “expression”).

The increment/decrement may be specified as a percentage of the currentcomputed attrition risk as indicated by the values “increment %” and“decrement %” for the attribute “type” (for example, in lines 626 and630). Further, for multiple actions, the rules data may indicate whetheronly one of the multiple actions is to be performed (value “or” for theattribute “operator” in line 638) or whether all the actions are to beperformed (value “and”).

Further, each of the rules is associated with a unique identifier (valueof attribute “id”), with decision server 150 designed to apply the rulesin the ascending/ordinal order specified by the unique identifier. Thus,the rule with identifier 101 (specified in lines 613-619) is appliedbefore the rule with identifier “104” (specified in lines 628-631) whichin turn is applied before the rule with identifier “105” (specified inlines 632-642).

Accordingly, lines 613-619 specify the details of a rule with identifier“101” (value of attribute “id” in line 613) which is to be applied onlywhen the call reason is adjustment (condition element in line 615) or(value of attribute “operator” in line 614) when the total number ofadjustment calls for the users is greater than 0 (condition element inline 616). The rule further specifies the action to be performed in line618 which indicates that the attrition risk is to be incremented by avalue equaling the total number of adjustment calls (made by thecustomer) multiplied by “10” (“*” being the multiplication operator, asis well known).

Similarly, the rule with identifier “102” (in lines 620-627) specifiesthat the attrition risk is to be incremented by the number of pendingservice requests multiplied by “5” when the number of pending servicerequests (for the customer) is greater than 0. The rule with identifier“103” (in lines 624-627) specifies that the attrition risk is to beincremented by 10% when the product/service type availed by the customeris one of “Silver Checking” and “Gold Checking” (as indicated by the“in” operator). The rule with identifier “104” (in lines 628-631)specifies that the attrition risk is to be decremented by 20% when thecall reason is not one of “Billing”, “Adjustment” and “FeesEnquiry” (asindicated by the “notin” operator). In other words, the attrition riskto be decremented by 20% when the reason for calling is a non-billingrelated.

The rule with identifier “105” (in lines 632-642) specifies that theattrition risk is to be incremented by 5% when the job title of thecustomer is one of “Lawyer”, “Counsel”, “CEO”, “President” and “SeniorManager”. It should be appreciated that the conditions in line 634-636can be specified as a single condition using the “in” operator. Further,the action (in line 640) indicates that the attribute risk is to beincremented by 10% (rather than 5%) when the customer has one of theabove job titles and rule 103 is applicable (that is, the customer isusing one of the products/services of type “Silver Checking” or “GoldChecking”).

Thus, the rules data specifies rules used in computing attrition riskfor customers. Though only a few representative rules are shown as beingspecified in the rules data, it may be appreciated that differenttypes/number of rules may be specified based on the desired manner ofcalculating attrition risk. In general, factors deemed to affect theattrition risk with a positive or negative correlation needs to beunderstood and then formalized as rules, thereby enabling CRM system ofFIG. 1 to programmatically determine the value of attrition risk (tocompare with a threshold) to the desired accuracy.

On receiving a call from a customer, decision server 150 firstdetermines the rules that are applicable to the customer based on thehistorical/transaction data of the customer (retrieved respectively fromdata warehouse 190 and transaction database 180). The attrition risk ofthe customer is then computed based the historical/transaction data ofthe customer and the applicable rules.

Thus, when customer 210 depicted in FIG. 4 makes an incoming call,decision server 150 may first determine the rules related to thecustomer in response to the call. Thus, decision server 150 maydetermine that the rules with identifiers 101 and 104 rules areapplicable since the historical data of the customer indicates billadjustment calls (assuming to be 3 for illustration) and the reason ofcalling is non-billing related. Decision server 150 may then compute theattrition risk as 30 (3×10, for the bill adjustment calls) decreased by6 (20% of 30 for non-billing reason of call) to obtain a total of 24, alow attrition value (since 24 is less than the threshold 65) whichindicates a high probability of retaining the customer.

For customer 210 depicted in FIG. 5, decision server 150 may determinethat the rules with identifiers 101, 102, 103, and 105 are applicable,since the historical data of the customer indicates bill adjustmentcalls (assuming to be 6, for convenience), pending requests (1 as shownin table 590), a gold checking account (as shown in row 581 of table580) and a job title of “Lawyer” (as indicated in display are 520).Accordingly, the attrition risk may be calculated as 60 (6×10, as perrule 101 for the bill adjustment calls) added to 5 (1×5, as per rule 102for pending requests) increased by 6.5 (10% of 65 as per rule 103 for“Gold Checking”) and further increased by 7.15 (10% of 71.5 as per rule105 for the combination of “Lawyer” and “Gold Checking” as specified inline 640), to obtain a total of 78.65, a high value of attrition risk(since 78.65 is greater than the threshold 65) which indicates a lowprobability of retaining the customer.

Thus, decision server 150 may compute the attrition risk of a customerbased on the historical/transaction data of the customer and thespecific rules in the rule data that are determined to be applicable forthe customer. The computed attrition risk may be maintained as part ofthe historical data in data warehouse 190. Decision server 150 thendetermines cross-sell offers/promotions or retention offers/incentivesbased on whether the computed value of the attrition risk is below orabove a threshold value (specified in rules data) as described belowwith examples.

8. Determining Offers

Broadly, a user/administrator creates one or more choice groups (sets ofoffers) and the cross-sell/retention offers included in each choicegroup. The offers may be created based on the requirements/goals of thebusiness entity consistent with the policies/by-laws of the businessentity as will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant arts.

Further, the user/administrator specifies the eligibility of each offerin the form of a set of rules that need to be satisfied for thecorresponding offer to be eligible (available for selection) for thecustomer. The administrator also specifies the manner in which a scorefor each of the eligible offers for the customer is to be calculated,with the score indicating the desirability of the corresponding offerfor the customer. The description is continued illustrating the mannerin which a user/administrator creates/configures the offers in oneembodiment.

FIG. 6B depicts a portion of a user interface which enables auser/administrator to specify eligibility of offers in one embodiment.Display area 650 represents the portion of a user interface that may bedisplayed on a display unit (not shown) associated with one of clientsystems 110A-110C used by the user/administrator. Display area 650 maybe displayed by decision server 150 in response to receiving anindication from the user/administrator.

Display area 660 indicates that the user/administrator has created achoice group called “Retention Offers” containing the incentives“Balance Transfer”, “Credit Protection”, “Gold Account”, and “PlatinumAccount”. Display area 660 also indicates that the user/administratorhas created a choice group called “Cross Sell Offers” containing thepromotions “Auto Insurance”, “Auto Refinancing” and “Home Refinancing”.

Display area 670 enables the user/administrator to specify theeligibility of an offer (such as “Platinum Account” as indicated by 661)selected from display area 660. Display area 670 indicates that acustomer is eligible for the “Platinum Account” incentive only when thecustomer has 80% available credit (rule 1), has been with the businessentity for at least 5 years (rule 2) and the current call reason is“FeesEnquiry”. Similarly, the user/administrator may specify theeligibility of each of the cross-sell offers/promotions and retentionoffers/incentives. The user/administrator may then specify the manner inwhich scores for eligible offers are to be calculated as described indetail below.

FIG. 6C depicts a portion of user interface which enables auser/administrator to specify the manner of calculating scores foreligibility of offers in one embodiment. Similar numbers are used torepresent corresponding portions of FIGS. 6B and 6C and hencedescriptions of such portions are not repeated for conciseness.

Display area 690 indicates the manner in which scores for eligibleretention offers (as indicated by 665) are to be calculated. It may beobserved that the score is specified as a numeric value between 0 and 10based on corresponding conditions being satisfied by thehistorical/transaction data of the customer. A high score such as 7indicates that the retention offer/incentive is highly desirable to thecustomer and accordingly has a high probability of acceptance by thecustomer, while a low score such as 4 indicates the offer is lessdesirable to the customer and has a low probability of acceptance by thecustomer.

Though the scores specified in display area 690 are based on thedesirability of the offer to the customer, it may be appreciated thatthe user/administrator may specify scores based on other factors as wellsuch as the expected business benefits to the customer/business entity,the expected time savings for the customer/business entity, the prideassociated with having a certain offer, etc.

Thus, a user/administrator creates desired choice groups containingdesired cross-sell/retention offers, specifies the eligibility of eachoffer and also the manner of calculating the score for each of theeligible offers. The description is continued illustrating the manner inwhich decision server 150 determines the offers based on the abovedescribed configuration and the computed attrition risk in oneembodiment.

Decision server 150, after computing the attrition risk based on rulesdata, first selects the appropriate choice group based on the computedvalue of the attrition risk. Thus, for the customer shown in FIG. 5,decision server 150 selects the choice group “Retention Offers” sincethe computed value of the attrition risk is high (greater than thethreshold value).

Though not shown, it may be appreciated that the user/administrator maybe provided a user interface for configuring the selection of choicegroups as well. For example, the user/administrator may specify aselection criteria based on which choice groups are to be considered forselection, the maximum number of choices/offers that can be selectedfrom each choice group (for example, 1 for choice groups containingincentives/retention offers), or indicate that the selection of thechoice and choice groups is to be performed at random (rather than basedon the scores/selection criteria). Decision server 150 may then selectthe choice group based on the user specified configuration.

Decision server 150 then determines which of the offers/incentivesincluded in the selected choice group are eligible for the customer. Thedetermination may be performed by checking whether the rules specifiedas part of eligibility (as shown in FIG. 6B) are satisfied by thehistorical/transaction data of the customer. Accordingly, decisionserver 150 may determine that the customer is eligible for the “PlatinumAccount” incentive.

Decision server 150 then calculates a score for each of the eligibleoffers/incentives based on the conditions specified by theuser/administrator (as shown in FIG. 6C). Assuming that the status ofthe customer is active and that the credit limit of the customer of FIG.5 is 50,000, decision server 150 may calculate that the score for the“Platinum Account” incentive is “7” since the values “Active” and“50,000” satisfy the condition specified in the first row in displayarea 690. The score “7” for the “Platinum Account” incentive representsa high score indicating high probability of acceptance by the customer.

Decision server 150 then includes the eligible offers having high scores(such as “Platinum Account”) in the determined set of offers. Thedetermined set of offers is then displayed (either by decision server150 or by a CRM application) to the agent on a display unit associatedwith contact center system 270 as shown in display area 530 of FIG. 5.The agent may then orally communicate the “Platinum Account” incentiveto the customer as described above.

Similarly, for the customer shown in FIG. 4, decision serve 150 firstselects the choice group “Cross Sell Offers” since the computed value ofthe attrition risk is low (less than the threshold value). Decisionserver 150 then determines the cross-sell offers/promotions eligible forthe customer based on the corresponding eligibility rules. For example,decision server 150 may determine that the customer is eligible for the“Auto Insurance”, “Auto Refinancing” and “Home Refinancing” promotions.

Decision server 150 calculates a score for each of the eligibleoffers/promotions and then only those eligible offers/promotions thathave a high score in the determined set of offers. The determined set ofoffers is then displayed (either by decision server 150 or by a CRMapplication) to the agent on a display unit associated with contactcenter system 270 as shown in table 450 of FIG. 4. It may be observedthat the calculated score corresponding to each offer/promotion is alsoindicated as a corresponding number of stars in the “score” column oftable 450. The agent may then communicate (either orally or by playingcorresponding audio clips) the promotions to the customer as describedabove.

Thus, decision server 150 determines the offers to be communicated tothe customer based on the computed value of the attrition risk and athreshold value. It may be appreciated that in the description providedabove, the offers determined for the customer are based on the score orthe probability of acceptance of the offer by the customer.

However, the incentives/promotions may also be determined based eitherindividually or a desired combination of impression commitments whichspecifies the minimum number of monthly impressions/communications forcertain offers or offer types, the cost of presenting the offer, thecost after the offer is accepted, the predicted revenue for the companyif the offer is accepted, the effect of presenting the offer on thelikelihood that the customer will “tune out” of the marketing efforts(that is, likelihood of reaching the saturation point for the customerwith marketing activities, also referred to as “Return on Attention”), acustomer provided rank for the offers indicating the objectives of thecustomers, etc.

Further, business users may set priorities (or weights) for keyperformance indicators (KPI), thus introducing the business prioritiesinto the process of determining the offers communicated to the customer.KPI represents financial/non-financial metrics used to help a businessentity to define and evaluate its success, typically in terms of makingprogress towards its long-term goals.

For example, if there is a need to improve revenue even at the expenseof cost, the business user can put more weight onto the revenue KPI. Thesecond way in which business users can introduce their insight andintuition into the determination process is by utilizing a “MarketingValue” KPI. Decision server 150 may be designed to compute the marketingvalue for each offer based on customer profile characteristics. Decisionserver 150 may then combine the marketing value KPI with other KPIs indetermining the final set of offers communicated to the customer.Decision server 150 may also be designed to take into account thedifferent factors described above in determining the offers.

It should be appreciated that the features described above can beimplemented in various embodiments as a desired combination of one ormore of hardware, executable modules, and firmware. The description iscontinued with respect to an embodiment in which several features areoperative when executable modules are executed.

9. Digital Processing System

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating the details of digital processingsystem 700 in which various aspects of the present invention areoperative by execution of appropriate software instructions. Digitalprocessing system 700 may correspond to decision server 150 or contactcenter system 270.

Digital processing system 700 may contain one or more processors (suchas a central processing unit (CPU) 710), random access memory (RAM) 720,secondary memory 730, graphics controller 750, display unit 770, networkinterface 780, and input interface 790. All the components exceptdisplay unit 770 may communicate with each other over communication path750, which may contain several buses as is well known in the relevantarts. The components of FIG. 7 are described below in further detail.

CPU 710 may execute instructions stored in RAM 720 to provide severalfeatures of the present invention. CPU 710 may contain multipleprocessing units, with each processing unit potentially being designedfor a specific task. Alternatively, CPU 710 may contain only a singlegeneral-purpose processing unit. RAM 720 may receive instructions fromsecondary memory 730 using communication path 750.

Graphics controller 750 generates display signals (e.g., in RGB format)to display unit 770 based on data/instructions received from CPU 710.Display unit 770 contains a display screen to display the images (suchas the portions of the user interfaces depicted in FIGS. 4, 5, 6B and6C) defined by the display signals. Input interface 790 may correspondto a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., touch-pad, mouse) and may beused to provide various inputs (for example, the inputs required inFIGS. 4, 5, 6B and 6C).

Network interface 780 provides connectivity to a network (e.g., usingInternet Protocol), and may be used to communicate with other connectedsystems (such as client systems 110A-110C, CRM server 130, decisionserver 150 or analytics server 160) of FIG. 1.

Secondary memory 730 may contain hard drive 735, flash memory 735, andremovable storage drive 737. Secondary memory 730 may store the data(e.g., portions of the data depicted in FIG. 6A) and softwareinstructions, which enable digital processing system 700 to provideseveral features in accordance with the present invention.

Some or all of the data and instructions may be provided on removablestorage unit 740, and the data and instructions may be read and providedby removable storage drive 737 to CPU 710. Floppy drive, magnetic tapedrive, CD-ROM drive, DVD Drive, Flash memory, removable memory chip(PCMCIA Card, EPROM) are examples of such removable storage drive 737.

Removable storage unit 740 may be implemented using medium and storageformat compatible with removable storage drive 737 such that removablestorage drive 737 can read the data and instructions. Thus, removablestorage unit 740 includes a computer readable (storage) medium havingstored therein computer software and/or data. However, the computer (ormachine, in general) readable medium can be in other forms (e.g.,non-removable, random access, etc.).

In this document, the term “computer program product” is used togenerally refer to removable storage unit 740 or hard disk installed inhard drive 735. These computer program products are means for providingsoftware to digital processing system 700. CPU 710 may retrieve thesoftware instructions, and execute the instructions to provide variousfeatures of the present invention described above.

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment”, “anembodiment”, or similar language means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus,appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment”, “in an embodiment” andsimilar language throughout this specification may, but do notnecessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics ofthe invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details areprovided such as examples of programming, software modules, userselections, network transactions, database queries, database structures,hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide athorough understanding of embodiments of the invention.

10. Conclusion

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not limitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of thepresent invention should not be limited by any of the above-describedexemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with thefollowing claims and their equivalents.

It should be understood that the figures and/or screen shots illustratedin the attachments highlighting the functionality and advantages of thepresent invention are presented for example purposes only. The presentinvention is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may beutilized in ways other than that shown in the accompanying figures.

Further, the purpose of the following Abstract is to enable the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially thescientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiarwith patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from acursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure ofthe application. The Abstract is not intended to be limiting as to thescope of the present invention in any way.

1. A method of enabling a business entity to enhance retention ofcustomers using a customer relationship management (CRM) system, saidmethod comprising: maintaining a historical data corresponding to acustomer in said CRM system, wherein said historical data includesinformation on prior interactions between said customer and saidbusiness entity; receiving, from said customer, a call and also dataindicating a reason for said call, wherein said reason is indicated bysaid customer during said call and said call is a telephone call,wherein an agent can answer said call to serve said customer;identifying said historical data corresponding to said customer inresponse to receiving said call; computing, using said CRM system, avalue representing an attrition risk of said customer based on saidhistorical data and said data indicating reason for said call, whereinlower attrition risk indicates a correspondingly higher probability ofretaining said customer and higher attrition risk indicates acorrespondingly lower probability of retaining said customer;determining a plurality of offers based on said attrition risk, saiddetermining comprises: comparing said value with a threshold value; ifsaid value is greater than said threshold value, including a first setof offers directed to increasing the probability of retaining saidcustomer in said plurality of offers; and otherwise, including a secondset of offers directed to sell services desirable to said customer insaid plurality of offers; and communicating at least one of saidplurality of offers to said customer during said call, wherein saidcommunicating comprises: if said value is greater than said thresholdvalue, displaying on a display unit said first set of offers during saidcall, wherein said agent can view and orally inform said customer of anyof said first set of offers based on the displayed first set of offers;if said value is not greater than said threshold value, playing audioclips representing at least one of said second set of offers to saidcustomer during said call, wherein said agent is not provided the optionto play audio clips representing said first set of offers such thatcustomers with higher attrition risk are communicated orally by theagent and customers with lower attrition risk are played audio clips,wherein said computing, determining, and said communicating are allperformed during said telephone call, wherein said CRM system comprisesa digital processing system containing a processor coupled to a memory.2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: maintaining rules forcomputing the attrition risk for each of the customers; and determininga set of rules corresponding to said customer in response to receivingsaid call, wherein said set of rules indicates the manner of computingof the attrition risk for said customer, wherein said computing computessaid attrition risk based on said historical data according to said setof rules.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first set of offerscomprise incentives and said second set of offers comprise promotions,wherein said incentives represent a direct benefit to the customer, andsaid promotions are advertisements, whereby direct benefit is providedto customers with higher attrition risk, while said advertisements areprovided to customers with lower attrition risk.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein said historical data is maintained in a data warehousecomprised in said CRM system, wherein a transaction database comprisedin said CRM system maintains a transaction data corresponding to thepresent interaction with said customer, said transaction data includingsaid reason, wherein said computing computes said attrition risk basedon said historical data maintained in said data warehouse and saidtransaction data maintained in said transaction database.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein said second set of offers are also displayed on saiddisplay unit, wherein said second set of offers are displayed associatedwith a choice option to select at least one offer, said method furthercomprising: receiving a choice data from said agent using said choiceoption, said choice data indicating a specific set of offers in saidsecond set of offers to be played, wherein said playing plays audioclips corresponding to said specific set of offers to said customerduring said call.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said first set ofoffers are displayed without said choice option.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein said communicating comprises sending said one of saidplurality of offers in the form an e-mail or SMS to said customer duringsaid telephone call.
 8. A non-transitory machine readable mediumcarrying one or more sequences of instructions for causing a customerrelationship management (CRM) system to enable a business entity toenhance retention of customers of said business entity, whereinexecution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or moreprocessors contained in said CRM system causes said CRM system toperform the actions of: maintaining a historical data corresponding to acustomer, wherein said historical data includes information on priorinteractions between said customer and said business entity; receiving,from said customer, a call and also data indicating a reason for saidcall, wherein said reason is indicated by said customer during said calland said call is a telephone call, wherein an agent can answer said callto serve said customer; identifying said historical data correspondingto said customer in response to receiving said call; computing a valuerepresenting an attrition risk of said customer based on said historicaldata and said data indicating reason for said call, wherein lowerattrition risk indicates a correspondingly higher probability ofretaining said customer and higher attrition risk indicates acorrespondingly lower probability of retaining said customer;determining a plurality of offers based on said attrition risk, saiddetermining comprises: comparing said value with a threshold value; ifsaid value is greater than said threshold value, including a first setof offers directed to increasing the probability of retaining saidcustomer in said plurality of offers; and otherwise, including a secondset of offers directed to sell services desirable to said customer insaid plurality of offers; communicating at least one of said pluralityof incentives and said plurality of promotions to said customer duringsaid call, wherein said communicating comprises: if said value isgreater than said threshold value, displaying on a display unit saidfirst set of offers during said call, wherein said agent can view andorally inform said customer of any of said first set of offers based onthe displayed first set of offers; if said value is not greater thansaid threshold value, playing audio clips representing at least one ofsaid second set of offers to said customer during said call, whereinsaid agent is not provided the option to play audio clips representingsaid first set of offers such that customers with higher attrition riskare communicated orally by the agent and customers with lower attritionrisk are played audio clips, wherein said computing, determining, andsaid communicating are all performed during said telephone call.
 9. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, further comprisingone or more instructions for: maintaining rules for computing theattrition risk for each of the customers; and determining a set of rulescorresponding to said customer in response to receiving said call,wherein said set of rules indicates the manner of computing of theattrition risk for said customer, wherein said computing computes saidattrition risk based on said historical data according to said set ofrules.
 10. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 9,wherein said historical data is maintained in a data warehouse comprisedin said CRM system, wherein a transaction database comprised in said CRMsystem maintains a transaction data corresponding to the presentinteraction with said customer, said transaction data including saidreason, wherein said computing computes said attrition risk based onsaid historical data maintained in said data warehouse and saidtransaction data maintained in said transaction database.
 11. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 8, wherein saidcommunicating comprises sending said one of said plurality of incentivesand said plurality of promotions in the form an e-mail or SMS to saidcustomer during said telephone call.
 12. The non-transitory machinereadable medium of claim 8, wherein said first set of offers compriseincentives and said second set of offers comprise promotions, whereinsaid incentives represent a direct benefit to the customer, and saidpromotions are advertisements, whereby direct benefit is provided tocustomers with higher attrition risk, while said advertisements areprovided to customers with lower attrition risk.
 13. The non-transitorymachine readable medium of claim 12, wherein said historical data ismaintained in a data warehouse comprised in said CRM system, wherein atransaction database comprised in said CRM system maintains atransaction data corresponding to the present interaction with saidcustomer, said transaction data including said reason, wherein saidcomputing computes said attrition risk based on said historical datamaintained in said data warehouse and said transaction data maintainedin said transaction database.
 14. The non-transitory machine readablemedium of claim 13, wherein said second set of offers are also displayedon said display unit, wherein said second set of offers are displayedassociated with a choice option to select at least one offer, furthercomprising: receiving a choice data from said agent using said choiceoption, said choice data indicating a specific set of offers in saidsecond set of offers to be played, wherein said playing plays audioclips corresponding to said specific set of offers to said customerduring said call, wherein said first set of offers are displayed withoutsaid choice option.
 15. A customer relationship management (CRM) systemenabling a business entity to enhance retention of customers of saidbusiness entity, said CRM system comprising: a set of processors; a setof random access memories communicatively coupled to said set ofprocessors; and a machine readable medium, communicatively coupled tosaid random access memories, said machine readable medium storing one ormore sequences of instructions, wherein retrieval of said one or moresequences of instructions into said random access memories and executionof said one or more sequences of instructions by said set of processorscauses said CRM system to perform the actions of: maintaining ahistorical data corresponding to a customer, wherein said historicaldata includes information on prior interactions between said customerand said business entity; receiving, from said customer, a call and alsodata indicating a reason for said call, wherein said reason is indicatedby said customer during said call and said call is a telephone call,wherein an agent can answer said call to serve said customer;identifying said historical data corresponding to said customer inresponse to receiving said call; computing a value representing anattrition risk of said customer based on said historical data and saiddata indicating reason for said call, wherein lower attrition riskindicates a correspondingly higher probability of retaining saidcustomer and higher attrition risk indicates a correspondingly lowerprobability of retaining said customer; determining a plurality ofoffers based on said attrition risk, said determining comprises:comparing said value with a threshold value; if said value is greaterthan said threshold value, including a first set of offers directed toincreasing the probability of retaining said customer in said pluralityof offers; and otherwise, including a second set of offers directed tosell services desirable to said customer in said plurality of offers;communicating at least one of said plurality of incentives and saidplurality of promotions to said customer during said call, wherein saidcommunicating comprises: if said value is greater than said thresholdvalue, displaying on a display unit said first set of offers during saidcall, wherein said agent can view and orally inform said customer of anyof said first set of offers based on the displayed first set of offers;if said value is not greater than said threshold value, playing audioclips representing at least one of said second set of offers to saidcustomer during said call, wherein said agent is not provided the optionto play audio clips representing said first set of offers such thatcustomers with higher attrition risk are communicated orally by theagent and customers with lower attrition risk are played audio clips,wherein said computing, determining, and said communicating are allperformed during said telephone call.
 16. The CRM system of claim 15,wherein said machine readable medium further comprises one or moreinstructions for: maintaining rules for computing the attrition risk foreach of the customers; and determining a set of rules corresponding tosaid customer in response to receiving said call, wherein said set ofrules indicates the manner of computing of the attrition risk for saidcustomer, wherein said computing computes said attrition risk based onsaid historical data according to said set of rules.
 17. The CRM systemof claim 15, wherein said communicating comprises sending said one ofsaid plurality of incentives and said plurality of promotions in theform an e-mail or SMS to said customer during said telephone call. 18.The CRM system of claim 15, wherein said first set of offers compriseincentives and said second set of offers comprise promotions, whereinsaid incentives represent a direct benefit to the customer, and saidpromotions are advertisements, whereby direct benefit is provided tocustomers with higher attrition risk, while said advertisements areprovided to customers with lower attrition risk.
 19. The CRM system ofclaim 18, wherein said historical data is maintained in a data warehousecomprised in said CRM system, wherein a transaction database comprisedin said CRM system maintains a transaction data corresponding to thepresent interaction with said customer, said transaction data includingsaid reason, wherein said computing computes said attrition risk basedon said historical data maintained in said data warehouse and saidtransaction data maintained in said transaction database.
 20. The CRMsystem of claim 9, wherein said second set of offers are also displayedon said display unit, wherein said second set of offers are displayedassociated with a choice option to select at least one offer, whereinthe actions further comprise: receiving a choice data from said agentusing said choice option, said choice data indicating a specific set ofoffers in said second set of offers to be played, wherein said playingplays audio clips corresponding to said specific set of offers to saidcustomer during said call, wherein said first set of offers aredisplayed without said choice option.